Description And Comments

Toy Story Mania! ushered in a whole new generation of Disney attraction: the “virtual dark ride.” Since Disneyland opened in 1955, ride vehicles have moved past two- and three-dimensional sets often populated by Audio-Animatronic (AA) figures. These amazingly detailed sets and robotic figures defined the Disney Imagineering genius in attractions such as Pirates of the Caribbean, The Haunted Mansion, and Peter Pan's Flight. Now for Toy Story Mania!, the elaborate sets and endearing AA characters are gone. Imagine long corridors, totally empty, covered with reflective material. There’s almost nothing there . . . until you put on your 3-D glasses. Instantly, the corridor is full and brimming with color and activity, thanks to projected computer-graphic (CG) images.

Conceptually, this is an interactive shooting gallery much like Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, but in Toy Story Mania!, your ride vehicle passes through a totally virtual midway, with booths offering such games as ring tossing and ball throwing. You use a cannon on your ride vehicle to play as you move along from booth to booth. Unlike the laser guns in Buzz Lightyear, however, the pull-string cannons in Toy Story Mania! take advantage of CG image technology to toss rings, shoot balls, even throw eggs and pies. Each game booth is manned by a Toy Story character who is right beside you in 3-D glory, cheering you on. In addition to 3-D imagery, you experience vehicle motion, wind, and water spray.

The ride begins with a training round to familiarize you with the games, then continues through a number of “real” games in which you compete against your riding mate. The technology has the ability to self-adjust the level of difficulty, and there are plenty of easy targets for small children to reach. Tip: Let the pull-string retract all the way back into the cannon before pulling it again.

Finally, a 6-foot-tall Mr. Potato Head interacts with and talks to guests in
real time in the queuing area (similar to Turtle Talk with Crush at Epcot).

Touring Tips

Because it’s a ton of fun and it has a relatively low rider-per-hour capacity, Toy Story Mania! is the biggest bottleneck in Walt Disney World, surpassing even Test Track at Epcot. The only way to get aboard without a horrendous wait is to be one of the first through the turnstiles when the park opens and zoom to the attraction. Another alternative is to obtain FastPass+ reservations for Toy Story Mania! But you’ll need to act fast: Even on days of moderate attendance, all reservations for the day are usually gone by 11 a.m.

Families with children too small to ride Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror make a beeline to Toy Story Mania! first thing in the morning, and lines grow quickly. Waits at Toy Story can reach 90 minutes or more on a busy day. In fact, the lines grow so fast that in about a third of our touring plan variations, we recommend getting a FastPass+ reservation for 9 a.m.–10 a.m., even when Toy Story is the first step in the plan. The two benefits to doing this are that you’ll shave off at least 10 minutes of waiting, and you don’t have to line up as early at the park entrance to join the mad run to Toy Story.

Readers generally love the ride but hate the wait. A Nashville, Tennessee, mom was mostly positive:

Toy Story Mania! was already swamped fairly early in the day. We had to resort to getting some of the last FastPass+ reservations, and it extended our day to wait until our return time came up. But oh my gosh, it was worth the wait!

But a woman from Aberdeen, Washington, was mostly frustrated:

We decided to risk the 70-minute wait for Toy Story Midway Mania! because
my family loves Pixar. The line is a nightmare—it took 2 hours to complete,
because for every 5 regular-line people let into the ride, 40–50 FastPass+
people are let in. (Yes, I counted.) It was incredibly irritating to be in such a
slow-moving line. I highly recommend riding this only if you have FastPass+.

This chart shows you roughly how long you'll wait for Toy Story Midway Mania! when you visit on a day with a given Disney's Hollywood Studios Crowd Level. The blue bars represent the average "peak" wait time (that is, how long the line will be at its busiest). The bottom and top black lines represent the range of peak wait times to expect (for you fellow nerds out there: it's the 5th percentile and 95th percentile of peak wait times). Please note that these are estimates, and for a better forecast for your travel dates, see Toy Story Midway Mania! Wait Times.